An Unexpected Chef Has Revived Hank's Pasta Bar - Washingtonian

"“It’s always been part of my career, and so it was a lot of muscle memory involved for me with the Italian food. It was just like coming home,” Norris says."

"“I just said, 'I’m looking for something to do. Do you have anything you need help with?'” It turned out the answer was yes. Leeds had originally opened Hank's Pasta Bar in 2016, but turned it into another location of Hank's Oyster Bar during the pandemic. She'd revived it again for carryout and delivery only last fall, but wanted to bring back the dining room on the second floor, which has its own kitchen."

"Norris has introduced a new menu with antipasti such as braised artichokes, meatballs in pomodoro sauce, and burrata with slow-fermented tomatoes (“a little bit more interesting version of a caprese”). But the main focus is on the pastas: bucatini amatriciana, malfade with fennel sausage and broccoli rabe, and fusilli with pistachio pesto and garlic butter shrimp, to name a few."

"Norris also makes a lasagna with “ruffled ribbon” noodles, “so it’s super tall but it’s not dense, it’s very light.”"

Chef Darren Norris, known for Japanese cuisine in the DC area, has a long background in Italian cooking dating to the 1980s. He previously served as chef de cuisine for Scalini Fedeli in New York and worked at an earlier Italian restaurant in DC. Norris has a close relationship with Hank’s owner Jamie Leeds, and he offered help when Leeds needed support for Hank’s Pasta Bar. The restaurant originally opened in 2016, shifted during the pandemic, and later returned as carryout and delivery. Norris introduced antipasti and a pasta-forward menu featuring dishes such as bucatini amatriciana, malfade with fennel sausage and broccoli rabe, and fusilli with pistachio pesto and garlic butter shrimp, including a light, tall lasagna.

Read at Washingtonian - The website that Washington lives by.